For some time cat owners have tried to restrict the travels of their pets for a number of reasons. Most of which have to do with the safety of the animal. Many suburban streets are congested with traffic to the point of great danger if a cat should wander into the path of a car. A number of cat owners also wish to protect their investments in their pets which can be injured in fights with other cats or dogs or humans. Most of all, cat owners may find that their cats get lost when out of the confines of their back yard. The state of the art includes vertical fencing of boards spaced closely enough that a cat cannot pass through, and wire mesh or chicken wire small enough that a cat cannot climb through.
The problems with the present state of the art are many. Obviously, both types of fences must extend close enough to or under the ground so that cats will not be able to dig under the fence. Board fences provide more privacy for the suburban back yard, and more particularly grape stake and dog-eared fences are quite common for such purpose. Cats, however, climb up such fences by their claws and jump over the top.
A solution is of course a ceiling to the enclosure however such a solution is not practical except in limited area because the home owner generally doesn't want to enclose his whole back yard and the cost would be prohibitive. Further the lack of aesthetics of a roof on a yard would limit the market of such a product.
This invention overcomes these problems of the cat bounding to the top of the fence and over by placing a horizontal barrier at or near the top of a fence. By using thin gauge steel and very thin coarse mesh netting in a horizontal orientation, the invention doesn't detract from the ambiance of the fence. Being a retrofit of an existing fence that uses netting, thin gauge steel rods and cable, the invention is very economical.